Spring time cow capers go stratospheric

Date Published:
08/05/2013

Sometimes there’s no accounting for what will resonate with people.

Richard Cooper’s dancing cows are a YouTube hit.

In March last year a video went online of the cows at one of our licensees’ farms being turned out to pasture for the spring. It was made by Compassion in World Farming and was going great guns right from the off in terms of viewer numbers.

At the time we had a chat with the farmer, Richard Cooper, who was full of enthusiasm for the project. We all thought it made a really good, fun short film that would appeal to many people because it’s not a sight most normally get to see, or even realise is something worth seeing.

So imagine the surprise when, spurred on by the creeping arrival of this spring, we decided to grab another look at that video – only to discover it has been viewed more than 1.6 million times! Yes, million.

That’s a pretty gigantic viewing figure for cows in a field…

We put a call in to Richard who, it turns out, was totally unaware of the level of his herd’s celebrity. He said: “It is astonishing! It was just a bit of fun as far as we were concerned at the time, but people are always amused when they see them go out for the first time in the spring. It’s a sight that brings a smile to your face, but for that many people to have watched it is amazing.”

Richard tells us they were a bit later getting out this year because of the weather. The grass is pretty sparse right now but the girls still made the most of getting back outdoors. Fortunately there haven’t yet been any diva-esque requests for fruit bowls or fancy Norwegian mineral water…